Rounds NEWS FROM AMERICA’S BEST MEDICAL SOCIETY TMLT declares dividend again
Physicians who hold policies from the Texas Medical Liability Trust (TMLT) will save about $20 million in premiums in 2013, thanks to the TMLT Board of Governors’ approval of a 15-percent dividend for policyholders who renew in 2013. TMLT says this is the eighth time it has declared a dividend, saving policyholders approximately $226 million since 2005. “The 15-percent dividend is just one of many reasons why Texas physicians should choose TMLT. We provide products, customer service, and flexibility that set us apart. Unlike our out-of-state competitors, TMLT is uniquely rooted in the Lone Star State and committed to Texas physicians,” said TMLT President and Chief Executive Of- ficer Charles R. Ott Jr. Texas physicians interested in applying for TMLT coverage or learning more about how this dividend will benefit them can email
sales@tmlt.org or call the sales department at (800) 580-8658, ext. 8603. Current policyholders will receive detailed information about the dividend before their policy renews. TMLT benefits include:
• $100 million in 2012 dedicated to the Trust Rewards program, which rewards TMLT policyholders for their loyalty and commitment to quality medicine;
• Medefense coverage for administrative actions; • Cyber liability for privacy-related claims; and • About $539 million in savings from eight consecutive years of rate reductions.
The largest medical liability insurance provider in Texas, TMLT serves more than
15,500 Texas Medical Association member physicians. TMA created and endorses TMLT.
Get more from your TMA membership
Now you can personalize the TMA website so the news and information you care about most appear on your homepage every time you visit
www.texmed.org. Personalize your TMA homepage by Dec. 31, 2012, and you will be entered to win one of three copies of TMA’s Policies and Procedures – A Guide for Medical Prac- tices, a $295 value. Check the “Keep Me Logged In” box next time you log in with your TMA user name and password. Click on Update Your Profile to tell us your specific interests. After that, anytime you visit the website you’ll be logged in automatically to your personalized TMA homepage. Why not make it your browser homepage, too, so you
can follow the topics important to you whenever you go online? We want you to know and take ad- vantage of all the things TMA offers:
• Fierce advocacy, • Help for your practice problems, • Many continuing medical education courses,
• Community outreach programs, • Innovative ways to interact with your colleagues, and
• The Calendar of Doom to keep you compliant with all the rules and regu- lations affecting physicians.
Six grounds to appeal a ranking
Picture this: A health plan ranks you un- der one of its tiering programs. You are less than pleased with the results. Fortunately, the Texas Legislature gave physicians the right to appeal such a ranking or classification before the health plan publishes it; TMA made sure of that. Just remember that you have 30 days
to request a review or fair reconsidera- tion proceeding if you determine you have the basis for an appeal of your ranking.
Some possible grounds for appeal un- der Texas law are:
1. The ranking is based on inaccurate data (e.g., wrong patient data).
2. The ranking is based solely on cost measures.
3. The standards and measurements September 2012 TEXAS MEDICINE 7
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